


Though I May Fall

by Eliizabethx



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: (rating will definitely change), AU, Basically, Cussing, Evolving Tags, Explicit Language, F/F, I literally only have a quarter of the 2nd chapter done idk where im going with this yet, Lots of it, Modern Character in Thedas, Modern Girl in Thedas, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person, Rating May Change, Warnings May Change, idk how to tag this, possibly? probably?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-11-15 04:13:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11223069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliizabethx/pseuds/Eliizabethx
Summary: A modern girl in Thedas story, but this modern girl probably isn't what you're expecting.No set update schedule, my life is confusing and I am easily distracted.Rating/Warnings/Tags are likely to change, I literally have no idea where this is going yet, I just sat down and started writing.Tags Updated: -Hit me up on Tumblr, @ElvhenWitch if you have questions/etc :)





	1. Oh Good, They Have Swords!

Falling, and burning, and the brightest light I've ever seen in my life, and then nothing. 

I gasp awake, sitting bolt upright in a panic. 

My eyes darted around, taking in my surroundings quickly; an open clearing in what appeared to be a forest. I peered into the darkness beyond the tree line but all I saw were small woodland animals. 

Pushing myself up to my feet I turned in a circle, trying to figure out how I'd gotten here, or where the hell _here_ even was. 

I had been in the city, there was no way I could find this many trees anywhere near there. I frowned in confusion, my memory annoyingly foggy. I couldn't have flown here, there's no way in hell I'd risk that in the city. 

I'm not going to get anywhere just standing here though. 

I stand still and close my eyes, focusing my attention on the sounds around me, trying to find the sounds of civilization. 

Instead of cars I hear distant yelling and the sounds of things colliding. I turn in the direction the sounds are coming from, just before I open my eyes I hear an earsplitting scream filled with pain, and my feet are moving me before my mind even fully comprehends the sound. I race through the trees, following the sounds of the fighting. 

When I finally see a break in the trees I force myself to stop, seeing the source of the violent sounds. There are honest to gods people swinging swords around, what the fuck, did I stumble on a group of LARPers? 

My eyes catch on a flash of red seconds before another cry of pain rings through the air, a man falls forward clutching his bloodied side and the one holding the sword swings again, striking with the pommel this time and sending the bleeding man to the ground. 

When I run forward this time it's a conscious choice, as I can see a woman shielding two children behind her as the person with the sword steps over the downed man, moving closer to them. 

I let my instincts reign as I reach them, and grasp the attacker by the collar of their _leather armor_ (which I wasn't even gonna think about right then), bodily tossing them away. 

I look over the little family, but they all look relatively unharmed, all three of them now staring at me with wide eyes, which is fair I guess. Suddenly the little boy on the woman's left shouts at me to watch out, pointing behind me. 

I barely duck down in time to avoid the blade swinging at me, apparently they've recovered. I drive my fist into the space between their armor, striking them where the bottom of the leather had shifted up to expose a line of their stomach. When they grunt and flinch away I push myself up from my crouch, wrapping an arm around their waist and throwing my weight into them, making sure to reach up with my other hand to grasp the wrist holding their sword. 

We land with a grunt, and I force their wrist against the ground. The surprise of the impact didn't last as long as I'd have liked, and they start struggling. Making a quick decision I let up on the pressure to their wrist and let their struggling carry the limb into the air. Before they can catch up with gravity I force their wrist back down towards their face, and manage to bring the pommel down right through the gaps in the helmet they're wearing. They cry out as blood gushes from their nose, and the grip on their weapon slips enough for me to pry it from their hand. 

I toss the sword away from us, but the next second they have a hand grabbing my hair and another wrapping around my neck. They use my surprise to roll us over, but the motion gives me enough slack to turn my head and sink my teeth into the arm gripping my hair, my teeth tear through the skin and blood pools in my mouth. 

They cry out and use their pressure on my neck to yank their arm away from my teeth and I spit blood into their face. I use the distraction to pull my knees towards my chest, jostling them where they sat on my pelvis and gaining enough room to pull one of my legs out from under them. 

They lean over me and apply more pressure to my neck, using their other hand as well this time. I grasp their wrists and brace my foot against their hip. I push them back with my foot far enough to pull my other leg up, so that I can hitch both around their waist and lock my ankles at their back. I push my hips up into theirs, lifting my pelvis from the ground I bowed my back and tried to pull away from them enough to get a breath. 

At that second they jolted forward with a grunt and a rock fell beside us, one of the kids yelled and distracted them enough for me to reach a hand up and grasp the opening in their helmet, pulling their head down beside mine and slipping my feet under their ass to pull them even farther forward. 

Their hands leave my neck to brace next to my head before they lost their balance. I quickly slid my left hand around the back of their neck, forcing them even further forward and down, giving me enough room to – somewhat awkwardly – wrap my right arm over the back of their neck in a headlock. I braced my feet against their hips again and pushed myself up their body, trying to gain a little leverage over the situation. 

That becomes less of a problem when I see the man that had been _stabbed_ previously, striding towards us with the sword I'd tossed away, _still bleeding_ (can you say badass). Once I see that I drop back to the ground and instead wrap my legs back around their waist to keep them in place. 

"Right!" I roll as far to my left as I can, and the blade goes through the gap in their armor at the collar, tearing through the skin at their neck and planting into the ground a few inches from my right shoulder. They gurgle for a moment but go limp almost immediately. 

Must have hit an artery, judging by the blood already pooling. 

I roll the dead weight off of me and sit up gasping for breath, glancing around quickly to see that whatever fight had been going on has been ended. A group of four stands with a few people dressed similarly to the family I'd tried to help, and there are bodies scattered about, dressed both like the family and like the attackers. 

Lifting a hand to my throat I get to my feet and turn to see the man with his family again, pressing something against his side, which appears to still be bleeding. 

I approach slowly, suddenly aware of how far out of my element I was. 

"Thanks for that," I say hesitantly when he looks up and sees me. "Are you, uh, okay?" 

He actually looks amused. 

"I will be," he says, his wife looks dubious about that claim, "and I should be the one thanking you, my family would have been killed if you hadn't stepped in." 

I nod awkwardly, feeling deeply and uncomfortably out of place. 

The man looks back to his wound as his wife tries to tend to it. Observing the little family makes me realize how...other, they look. While they all have dark skin and hair, much like myself, their clothing looks like something from a museum: Simple fabric and colors, almost no stitching, and very well worn. 

The man wore an old brown leather vest and similarly distressed boots with his clothes, but the rest of it looked just like the rest of his family's. 

I shake the observations from my head as the man turns back to me, offering me his hand, I shake it as he introduces himself and his family. 

"My name is Cassius Lacan, this is my wife, Nadine," he said, indicating each of his family in turn, "and my son and daughter, Loren and Rose." 

"Hi, I'm Eve Solin." I shake each of their hands. "This is probably going to sound weird, but can you tell me where we are exactly?" 

Cassius raises an eyebrow. "You're right, that does sound weird." 

I sigh in resignation. "Trust me, the next part doesn't sound any better. I woke up in a little clearing in the trees back there," she gestures back towards the way she'd come, "and I have no idea where I am or how I got here." 

His other eyebrow goes up to join the first. "Well, admittedly you don't look like you're from around here." 

"Yeah, I've been picking up on that." 

He chuckled. 

"We're not far from the Crossroads, which leads to Redcliffe." My face must have showed the lack of recognition, because his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "The Hinterlands? In Fereldan?" 

"None of those sound familiar," I admitted. 

"You've never heard of Fereldan?" His son, Loren, asked. "Are you from Orlais or Nevarra or something? You sound like you have a Marcher accent though." 

"I'm sorry, but nothing you just said has any meaning to me." 

The whole family looked flabbergasted now. 

Nadine frowned in concern. "Is it possible you've hit your head at any point?" 

"Um, maybe? The last thing I remember is going into the city to meet with a friend, but I am positive that's nowhere near here, and that was pretty early in the morning too." 

"What city?" Cassius asks. 

"Dawn," I reply. None of them recognize the name. 

"Would you excuse us a minute?" Nadine asks. I nod and she turns away with Cassius. 

The kids immediately approach me, firing questions like there's no tomorrow. 

"I've never heard of a Dawn city, what's it like?" 

"You said you were visiting there, so where are you from?" 

"Are you an elf? Your ears are kinda pointy." 

"You're really pretty!" 

"It was so cool when you just came out of nowhere and tossed that badguy away!" 

"Yeah, like he didn’t weigh anything!" 

"How strong are you?" 

"Can you lift us both up at the same time?" 

"Can you lift Mama up?" 

"Can you lift _Papa_ up?!" 

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I cut off the stream of questions, my eyes wide. They stopped and stared up at me expectantly. "… Okay, I'll answer your questions, but one at a time." 

They nod quickly and debate between themselves what to ask. 

"Where are you from?" Rose asks finally. 

"A little town in the Penelope mountains, called Dessa." 

The both shake their heads, telling me they've never heard of it. 

"The only mountains I've heard of are the Frostback mountains," Rose said. "Sorry." 

"It's alright." 

"Are you an elf?" Loren asks next, staring at my ears. 

"Um, no?" 

"You don't sound very sure," he notes, tilting his head at me. 

"I'm uh, not really sure about a lot right now." 

He shrugs, and gestures for his sister to go next. 

"You're really pretty," Rose says shyly, smiling up at me with big brown eyes. I smile and thank her. "What are the markings on your face? Do they mean something?" 

I hesitate, trying to figure out what to say about them. "That's a very... complicated answer." 

They look at me expectantly, and I sigh. 

"Okay, so uh, my mother moved to Dessa because that's where my father was from but she was born on an island called Ev, and on her island the people got tattoos at different parts in their life, to symbolize the events they lived through and experienced." 

"Is that why she named you Eve?" Loren asked when I paused, and I nodded in confirmation. 

"So, my tattoos here and here," I run my finger over the orange lines next to the corners of my eyes, on my chin, and across my cheekbones and nose, "I got these when I turned 23, which is the age that my mother's ancestors considered 'matured', and ready to join and contribute to the community." 

"What about the little white dots on your forehead and under your eyes, and the other orange lines on your throat?" Rose asked eagerly. 

"Um, those ones are... personal," I say vaguely. I couldn't exactly tell a couple of kids that I got them for my first successful flight, and after I survived my first "battle". 

Loren narrows his eyes at me suspiciously. "Did you get them because you had s-" 

"No!" I quickly interrupt,  my eyes wide with panic. "No, I promise they're not for that, it's just.. A secret, and you wouldn't tell a secret to someone you just met right?" 

"I guess not." 

"See, so maybe when we're all better friends I can tell you about them." He seemed to accept that, thank the gods. Glancing around for their parents I saw them talking with the four people I'd noticed before. 

"How strong are you?" Loren asks, grinning. 

I laugh and raise my right arm to flex it for them, receiving admiring "ooohhh"s from the two of them, followed by demands to pick them up with one arm. 

This is a far easier question topic in my opinion, and I indulge them by letting them hang off my biceps as I suspend them in the air. Not quite as easy as it looks in movies, but definitely rewarding once their feet leave the ground and they burst into delighted giggles. 

Who knew it was so easy to engage kids? 

Of course that was also when I finally looked up and saw a great big swirly green hellscape in the sky. 

"What is _that_?!" I ask in alarm, how the fuck had I missed that until now?! So much for being observant. 

The kids drop down and look up, suddenly looking grim and unsettled, which was fitting since I felt the same. There was something incredibly unsettling about looking up to see something like that, who would have guessed? 

"Papa said they call it the 'Breach'," Rose says quietly, as though anything louder might draw the damn thing down to them. 

"You haven't seen it before?" Loren asks, to which I shake my head. "It opened up during the Conclave at Haven, I heard Mama and Papa talking about it. That was the same time that Divine Victoria was killed, when the Temple of Sacred Ashes was blown up." 

"Gods mercy," I breath, watching some kind of debris swirl around in it and unnatural green lighting flashing around it. As I stared the foggy memories of just before waking up seemed to clear, and I remembered seeing something of a similar color and volatile nature flashing in the air around me, on an empty side street I'd turned down. Green tendrils of.. Something, snaking out of it and near strangling me. 

The blinding light as it flared, and the burning pain as it pulled me into it, and then the sudden nothingness as I passed out. 

_Where the hell_ _am I_ _?_  

That was about the time their parents came back to us, Cassius teasing them for bombarding me with questions and Nadine quietly thanking me for keeping them so calm. 

"Eve," Cassius drew my attention, which was when I noticed that his wound looked to have been more professionally patched up. "My family and I are planning to travel to Haven, the Inquisition is sheltering refugees there. That's where we and a few other families had been heading when we were attacked. Nadine and I discussed it, and given your.. Predicament and the fact that you helped our family, you're welcome to come with us. Perhaps you'll find answers as to what happened?" 

I thought about their offer for a minute, before deciding to take them up on it. "Thank you, I'd be very grateful." 

He and his wife smiled at me before leading me towards the other remaining families. The group of four seemed to have left, but in their place were three soldiers by the look of them. 

My gut was telling me whatever answers there were to find, I wasn't gonna care much for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you dig it so far, I'm excited! :D  
> This is the first chaptered thing I've committed to since I was like 12, so fingers crossed! This is also the first action scene I've ever written, opinions?
> 
> If you see any spelling/grammar errors please feel free to point them out, it's like 2:30 AM so yeah.  
> ALSO! I do not write in 1st person, I am a 3rd person kind of girl and this was bITCH to write. But I need to get back into the swing of it though, so if you see any part where I fucking change from 1st to 3rd, please CALL ME OUT. You don't even wanna know how many times I did that while writing, fUCK. >_<


	2. Haven

"Are you sure you don't want something more?" Nadine asked again. 

The woman really was a natural mother, I found myself thinking several times since I'd joined her family on their way to this town, Haven. 

I'd accepted a shawl from her after we'd gotten closer to the mountains, and the colder weather, but honestly even that was mainly to keep from standing out even more than I already did. 

"I'm fine Nadine, really, but thank you for the concern." I smile reassuringly at her. 

"I don't know how you aren't freezing right now," Cassius remarked, sounding somewhat peeved about my apparent affinity for the cold, which just made me chuckle. As we'd traveled together I fell into an easy banter with the man, and I'd already grown fond of his wife and children 

"Didn't you say you live on a mountain?" Loren asked, sidling up next to his father so that he could see me. "Is that why you don't mind the cold?" 

"Part of it, I suppose." 

"You live on a mountain?" Cassius asked, ears metaphorically perking. We'd been talking about my situation a lot as we travelled, and while I hadn't mentioned my... theories, it was already pretty clear to everyone that wherever I came from was nowhere near here. 

"Mmhm, small town named Dessa, up in the Penelope mountains." 

I didn't really need the confirmation that he had no idea what I was talking about. 

"Do you like living in the mountains?" 

"Yeah, I do," I say, chuckling a little. "I don't think I could live anywhere else anyway though." 

"Why's that?" He asks curiously. 

"Just not in my nature really," I say. 

We fell into idle chatter after that, going back and forth until the group made camp once again. I was glad to know that we were finally nearing Haven, another day or two at most. I had never missed cars more than I had on this fucking walk to Haven, and I didn't even drive when I could help it. It felt like everything had been put on pause while we were travelling, and it was really starting to make me antsy. 

I laid down on my bedroll and sighed, trying to push my thoughts to the side. It had been weeks since I'd really been able to relax and stretch myself out, I felt stir-crazy, as strange as it was. Hopefully once we reached Haven I could find some space to myself for at least a couple hours, and just unwind a little. Our destination sat on a freezing snow covered mountain from what I'd been told, there had to be someplace I could get away to for a bit. 

Shit, thinking about that wasn't helping either, it was just making me more aware of the tension in my shoulders and back. I scrubbed my hands up and down my face in irritation, sighing again I rolled on to my side and closed my eyes, eventually managing to drift of. 

~ 

Reaching Haven felt somewhat anticlimactic, I thought, as we trudged up the stairs - like I was waiting for something to happen, and then it didn't. 

There was someone there helping get refugees settled that directed us to a campsite near the town walls. There were a devastating number of people here, men, women, children and everyone in between. It brought the reality of the catastrophe that was happening in these people's world into clearer view for me, and I was deeply grateful that the Lacan's decided to take me in, I had no idea what I'd do in a world like this. It had already become clear to me that this place was very outdated compared to my own, missing things like electricity and running water. 

We were directed to one of the larger tents, given our numbers, and I stayed with Nadine and the kids while Cassius went to speak with someone about joining up with their soldiers. I helped set up the campsite as best I could, but struggled with some of the more.. Basic mundane things, much to Nadine's patient amusement and my awkward embarrassment. 

Thank the gods for eager-to-help children, I thought as Loren and Rose showed me the ropes. 

When Cassius came back it was around time for dinner, and we joined the other people around a communal fire pit, each getting a portion of food. Once we'd all had a bowl and found someplace to sit Cassius told us that'd he'd start training with the soldiers tomorrow. 

"They're eager to find more people willing to fight," Cassius said to me. "If you have any interest, I'm sure they'd be eager to take you on." 

I frowned, looking down at the stew in my bowel. 

"I don't know how to fight like them, and besides I really need to figure out how I got here and how I get back," I said. "But.. I'll think about it." 

He nodded easily and gave me a reassuring smile. 

~ 

I woke up early the next morning, Cassius was just finishing gathering up the things he'd need for his training as I started to get up. I tucked Rose in where she'd been curled up at my side as I moved to pull my boots and coat on. 

I had agreed to come watch him this morning, to get a feel for how the soldiers did things, so I nodded goodbye to Nadine and followed him out of the tent. 

It had started snowing and I looked up at the downy grey sky with a smile. 

"It snow often on Dessa?" Cassius asked, watching me from the corner of his eye as we walked, a fond indulgent smile on his face. 

"All the time," I said, smiling as I felt snowflakes catch in my lashes before melting. 

He opened his mouth to say something, but ended up closing it with a grunt as a piled of snow dropped off a tree and landed on his head. 

I burst out laughing when I saw his disgusted face, he shot a glare my way and irritatedly brushed the snow off his head, flicking some of it towards me. 

"Yeah yeah yeah," he muttered good naturedly, shaking his head at me as I caught up to him and made a show of wiping my eyes. 

The rest of the walk to Haven's makeshift training grounds was far less eventful. 

He approached a man in plate armor and a burgundy coat with fur at the collar, I could just see some wavy blonde hair as I waited off to the side, not wanting to intrude. 

Cassius caught my eye and gestured me over with a hand. 

"Eve Solin, this is Commander Cullen," he introduced me to the man, and for some reason that was when it finally occurred to me that all the people, or at least the humans, were about my height. The Commander was about my height, as was Nadine, and Cassius was actually a couple inches taller than me, which was rare for me to see since I was just over six feet tall. That was a weird realization. "This is the woman I mentioned." 

"A pleasure," I said with a polite nod, not really sure if there were customs I was missing for introductions. I thought I was probably in the clear though, since the man returned the gesture easily enough. 

"Lacan said that you defended his family from bandits?" He asked, and I nodded. "So you can fight?" 

"Uh, I know self-defense, but it's pretty much all hand-to-hand." 

"She's quite the brawler, Ser," Cassius supplied. 

"I don't know about that," I said, feeling awkward as several sets of eyes stared at me, some of the soldiers observing the training from the sidelines taking note of the conversation. 

Cassius snorted. "Eve, the first time I saw you was when you grabbed the person that had just stabbed me by the scruff of their collar and _tossed_ them aside." 

I coughed awkwardly in an attempt to stifle a snicker. "Okay, that's fair." 

The Commander had a small amused smile on his face, and nodded towards one of the men standing near us. 

"Perhaps you'd be willing to spar with one of my men?" He asked, the soldier coming to stand at his side and offered me a polite nod. 

"Uh-" I started, feeling awkward again. 

"I understand if you're not sure about joining the Inquisition, but there are some other refugees who come and train with my men simply to learn how to defend themselves and their family. You're more than welcome to do the same if you'd like," he said, nodding to a few people I hadn't noticed that were wearing more simple armor. "Plus, I think seeing your fighting style might be a benefit to us." 

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" 

"Learning how to fight without a weapon can be just as useful as learning how to use one properly," he explained, smiling. "We could both benefit from this arrangement." 

I thought about it for a moment.

If and when I get back home having some training in weapons could be pretty handy... With that in mind it'd be pretty foolish not to take the offer. 

"Alright, I'll take you up on your offer." 

He smiled at me and got me set up with the soldier he'd motioned over. He gave a few tips on what to keep an eye out for, armed or otherwise, and stood back to watch with Cassius. 

I got the sense that the man he'd paired me with wasn't exactly experienced either, which I was thankful for. 

Something else I hadn't thought to be grateful for until just now, was the fact that I'd been wearing a sports bra when I'd gone to the city. Wearing a normal bra while doing this shit would have been such a pain in the ass. 

I spent about a half hour with the soldier Cullen had originally set me up with, both of us managing to get the best of the other several times, before the Commander had us stop and take a break while talking with him about our spar. 

After that I sparred with a few others of varying skill for the next couple hours, and by the time I finally begged out I was absolutely exhausted. 

If the day was any indicator, Haven was going to be exhausting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't look at this chapter anymore, just take it please. I'm sorry it's short, but it was trying to kill me, so...  
> I hope you all have a lovely day! :)
> 
> I hope you enjoy it all right, thank you for reading! Hopefully the next chapter is more cooperative/longer. Who knows, maybe one day I'll come back and redo this to my liking.


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